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In one of my last posts I said that I normally start a complex drawing by sketching a stationary object; however, there are times, like here, when I do the complete opposite.
I began this drawing with the woman directly in front of me, who, thankfully, was glued to her magazine and never noticed my existence. I started with this "non-stationary object" because I found her position interesting and didn't want to take a chance on her leaving. As luck would have it, I was able to get both the woman and the table in front of her sketched in before she moved. The scale of the table allowed me to accurately measure the rest of the surroundings.
Something I struggled with in this drawing and many others is delineating dark skin. You can see that I tried to do this with the couple in the middle by using parallel strokes...but it doesn't really work. I would really appreciate any ideas you may have on how to do this more successfully.
7 comments:
You draw like an architet. Is that your background? You should write something about your skills, how did you aquire
Deciding where to start a drawing really is a challenge, isn't it, since everything else flows from there, the composition, the size and proportion, etc. Sometimes I start to freak out about it, and then I just go the "Oh what the hell" route and pick something random. Seems to work out equally well either way.
I love it!
Very nice drawing!!!
So, are you saying that skin color should be handled differently than any other color or value in the drawing? I personnaly think it is fine the way you have it. Going further I could question whether or not doing it at all if it doesn't add the the overall composition anyway.
Bill, you make a very good point...but for some reason...I don't know why...I feel skin value should be handled differently. I think it takes a more delicate approach than traditional crosshatching, but again, I don't know what that approach is. Its also interesting that you suggest that perhaps there is no need to add value at all. This is something to consider as facial features alone can often distinguish between races.... Hmmm.
Yari- Thank you for saying I draw like an architect. I take that to be a big compliment as this is the type of drawing I've been studying for the past few years. To answer your question about my background: while I've always drawn, I recently graduated from an interior architecture program.
Julie and HFM- Thanks so much for your comments!
That's what's great about this drawing: we are immediately drawn to the woman in the front, and our eye wanders in the back -- and you were right to do it like that.
I agree with Bill when it comes to dealing with skin -- especially with a pen.
This is brilliant. I actually feel like I'm sitting at your table observing the lady in the foreground. As France said our eyes keep coming back to her - and she is so well drawn. Brilliant.
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